Virtual Local Area Networks (VLANs) generally include many of the same attributes of physical Local Area Networks (LANs), except that VLANs enable network nodes to be grouped together even when the nodes are operating in seemingly disparate and often physically separated networks. Thus reconfiguration of VLANs often can be accomplished using software, and requires little or no reconfiguration of network hardware.
However, manipulating VLANs and providing connectivity services in a wireless mesh network can be more challenging than providing similar services in a wired network. Wireless mesh networks, such as Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs), are based on self-configuring autonomous collections of portable devices that communicate with each other over wireless links having limited bandwidths. A mesh network is a collection of wireless nodes or devices organized in a decentralized manner to provide range extension by allowing nodes to be reached across multiple hops. In a mesh network, communication packets sent by a source node thus can be relayed through one or more intermediary nodes before reaching a destination node. Mesh networks may be deployed as temporary packet radio networks that do not involve significant, if any, supporting infrastructure. Rather than employing fixed base stations, in some mesh networks each user node can operate as a router for other user nodes, thus enabling expanded network coverage that can be set up quickly, at low cost, and which is highly fault tolerant. In some mesh networks, special wireless routers also may be used as intermediary infrastructure nodes. Large networks thus can be realized using intelligent access points (IAPs), also known as gateways or portals, which provide wireless nodes with access to a wired backhaul or wide area network (WAN).
Because a mesh network may dynamically reconfigure itself in response to wireless nodes moving within the network, managing VLANs and related network services can be difficult. For example, if a mobile station joins a VLAN via a first mesh access point in a mesh network in order to receive a data stream, such as a video data stream, but then transfers its communication connection from the first mesh access point to a second mesh access point, the data stream may continue to be forwarded to the first mesh access point, even if the first mesh access point no longer has any members receiving the data stream. Thus valuable network resources can be wasted on transmitting VLAN traffic to network segments that are not presently connected to any VLAN group members.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved method and system for updating a VLAN status of a node in a mesh network.
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The apparatus and method components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.